Why are my tomato plants not growing more fruit?

[balaji27]

Hello Team,

Hope you all had an excellent Christmas.

This is regarding my tomato plants, I noticed that new tomatoes are not produced in my plants compared to two months before. Is it normal or some issues with my plants? Please advise.

Best regards

Balaji.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @balaji27,

My Christmas was great, how was yours?

Would you mind sharing some images of your plants with our members so they can better understand the issue? Let me know if you need a hand uploading images.

Have you fertilised these new plants at all? Here are a couple of helpful guides: How to grow tomatoes and How to grow tomatoes from seed to harvest.

Mitchell

[balaji27]

Thanks for your quick reply @MitchellMc .

Yes, I fertilize it regularly with Richgro Black Marvel Tomato Liq Fert Conc. I shared a few pics as recommended for reference. You can see that there are many buds but no new tomatoes.

Hope to get the team's guidance in this regard.

Thanks Balaji.

Balaji.

[Akanksha]

Thanks for sharing those images, @balaji27. 

Let me tag our wonderful and ever-helpful garden experts @mich1972 and @Noelle for their thoughts.

Akanksha

[Noelle]

Hi @balaji27 

The plants look very healthy and the current crop of tomatoes are growing and ripening well, so it is probably nothing you are doing (or not doing).

It is possible that, with warmer temperatures in mid summer, there are fewer pollinator insects around at present, so the flowers are not being pollinated. It may also be that the plants are not physically capable of producing more fruits even though they might still be flowering - some varieties flower and fruit earlier in the season than others and will not set any further fruits when the weather becomes too warm..

You have a reasonably good crop ripening now - perhaps next year you could stagger your plantings over a longer period or choose a range of different varieties so you will have fruit over a longer period.

[balaji27]

Hi @Noelle  - thanks a lot for the valuable insights as usual. Yes there are hardly any flowers I could see and understood that is the reason for not getting new tomatoes. Being a 1st time gardener, I am happy with the outcome so far (all because of the team's guidance and advice), I harvested 3 times so far and got around 12-14 tomatoes and still waiting for others to ripen.

Will the vine produce tomatoes in autumn and winter? If not, should I have to prune or cut the plants or I should leave it as is for the next season? Please advise.

Thanks,

Balaji.

[Noelle · Accepted solution]

Hi again @balaji27 

Tomatoes are what are known as annual plants - that is, they grow, flower, fruit then die off all within a couple of seasons or a year at most. In most parts of Australia, seeds are sown or seedlings are put in the ground from mid spring spring, they start flowering in late spring and early summer, ripen their fruit in summer and then, when the crop has been picked or the weather cools off in late summer/autumn, the plants die off.

Once all your tomatoes have ripened and there are no others starting develop, the plants are finished and should be pulled out of the garden or from pots if that's where you have them growing.

They will not survive through the winter normally, unless you live in the tropics or have a heated glasshouse in which to grow them.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @balaji27,

I agree with @Noelle; that's a wonderful crop, and the plant itself likely couldn't sustain much more fruit. I'd be very happy with that result as it far exceeds the crop I get per plant.

Well done!

Mitchell

[balaji27]

Thanks @Noelle , for sharing the great knowledge about this plant, a good learning for me.

I would follow your advice.

Wish you and entire team a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2024!

Best Regards

Balaji.

[balaji27]

Thanks @MitchellMc